Sue's Scallops

[Buster]

Hi All
Thought this piece about Sue’s Scallops might be of interest?
Whilst on a Sunday walk in the area of Saribelen a village above Kalkan, Sue a regular walker with the group picked up a small piece of Lime Stone with two Fossilized Scallops imbedded in it.

On the walk that day was a girl called Alysa who is training to be a Volcanologist (Before anybody else says it, no that is not the study of people with pointy ears)

A volcanologist is a person who studies the formation of volcanoes, and their current and historic eruptions. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, especially active ones, to observe volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra (such as ash or pumice), rock and lava samples..
Alysa took the piece of rock back with her to America where she is studying and the following is what she has been able to find out about, Sue’s scallops so far.
                           
                                            Alysa’s  E-mail to Sue:-
“The Shell fossils in the rock are a modern form of Scallop dating from the Paleozoic period” (545 to 245 million years ago) it’s a broad region which I hope to narrow down eventually.
The rock its self doesn’t seem to be so old and it doesn’t look dated, however I am finding it difficult to get hold of a geological map of the area which would be more helpful to me but the rock its self could possible be from the Cenozoic time period which is the most recent time period from 65.5 million years ago until present. This time period follows the Cretaceous Tertiary boundary which was the major event where we saw the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The difference in ages between the fossils and the rock its self would be the period where the rock actually formed. I think the rock is a type of limestone.
The shells suggest that they were deposited in a shallow sea of probably less than 2 meters. There have been similar fossils found around other parts of the coastline of Turkey some showing original characteristics of Gondwanaland (The name given to the southern part of the continent that existed when Pangaea the super continent existed 500-200 million years ago.) The high diversity of species around this area shows that the environmental conditions may have changed by the separation of Gondwanaland from Pangaea, meaning this species of scallop would become abundant.

I hope that this gives you some information on what you were looking for. I am still working out the time period of some of the Geological events and more information on the rock but I have to order in some books from a different library which is taking ages!!!
Love;  Alysa

End Of Email:

Thanks Alysa for the info:

Can I just say; I have spent all day searching the internet in an effort to fully understand the above?

I think I have just about got my head around: Gondwanaland and Pangaea.

In addition, through my study I have discovered that Sue’s Scallops must be nearly as old as some of the fossils that sit outside the Kaya.

Regards: Buster


Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=2876.0

[felicity]

Really interesting Buster - especially as I was there with you guys and saw these scallops...and met the vulcanologist and - no she had no pointy ears..!!      It just makes you realise the history involved around Kalkan!

Cheers for sharing! 

[Brooksie]

In addition, through my study I have discovered that Sue’s Scallops must be nearly as old as some of the fossils that sit outside the Kaya.

Regards: Buster

I resemble that remark! 

[micmac]

Hi Buster,

We dug out some rock behind the house a couple of years ago, here in Wales and we found loads of cockle shells fossilized in the rock. We imagine that the sand stone rock on which our house was built must have been a shallow sea way back as there are lots of shells just like a modern cockle bank.

[Alysa]

Im glad you found the information useful and interesting. I''ll bring the rock back in May when I come for the summer.